The decision came following a meeting of the BOA Board at their headquarters in Charlotte Street in central London.

The Board's recommendation was this evening approved by a vote by the National Olympic Committee and the BOA will now formally submit its intention to bid with Glasgow to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ahead of the March 1, 2012, deadline.

Glasgow are now set to face considerable competition if they are to win the right to stage the 2018 Youth Olympics as confirmed bidders for the event already are Buenos Aires in Argentina, Medellín in Colombia and Guadalajara in Mexico.

"We believe that hosting the 2018 Youth Olympic Games would present an outstanding and unique opportunity to further expand the legacy of the London 2012 Games," said BOA chairman Colin Moynihan.

"Among the many attributes that Glasgow has to offer the Olympic Movement is the fact that, as Host City of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, a great deal of the required infrastructure will already be in place.

"Glasgow also has outstanding leadership, a strong dedication to sport and will benefit greatly from the experience of hosting a major international multi-sport competition in 2014.

"The Youth Olympic Games have quickly established themselves as an important and inspirational event in the international sporting calendar.

"We know the bidding process will be highly competitive, but we are confident that in Glasgow we have an outstanding Candidate City."

Over the forthcoming months the BOA will work together with officials from the city of Glasgow and the Scottish Government to further develop and progress the submission before the Candidature City file is delivered to the IOC in October 2012.

Ultimately, the IOC will produce a short list of Candidate Cities in January 2013, before announcing the winning Host City in the summer of 2013.

The 2018 Youth Olympics will involve approximately 3,600 young athletes, aged 15 to 18, participating across all of the 28 summer Olympic sports in 12 days of competition.


The bid will be underwritten by the City of Glasgow Council and Scottish Government and Scotland's Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport Shona Robison admitted that it presents a hugely exciting opportunity for the Scottish city.

"I am delighted that the British Olympic Association has decided to support the joint bid from the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council and we appreciate the confidence shown by the BOA in this regard," she said.

"Hosting the Youth Olympic Games is an exciting prospect and we will now work alongside the BOA and our partners to ensure the bid is successful.

"A winning bid will not only ensure that Glasgow is one of a limited number of cities worldwide which has Olympic status, it will build on the legacy created by the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games and further enhance Scotland's already enviable reputation as the perfect stage for hosting major sporting events."

Besides the cities confirmed as bidding, potential rivals could include Abuja, the Nigerian capital Glasgow beat when they were awarded the 2014 Commonwealth Games five years ago.

The Hague in Netherlands, Dagestan in Russia and a city from Sweden also could also bid.

But Councillor Gordon Matheson, the Leader of Glasgow City Council, predicted the Scottish city can put up a major challenge for the event, thanks to the facilities it is building for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome (pictured). 


"Our submission for the Youth Olympic Games is a strong one, reinforcing our credentials as hosts of world class sporting events and underlining our continuing determination to ensure Glasgow has an enduring legacy which will benefit the city for generations to come," he said.

"We are looking forward to working in close partnership with the British Olympic Association and learning from their expertise and experience gained prior to, and during, the London 2012 Olympic Games.

"Glasgow is one of the world's great sporting cities which will play host to Olympic events in the summer of 2012, the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the World Artistic Gymnastics in 2015 alongside our annual programme of top international meetings in sports such as athletics and gymnastics."

The inaugural Youth Olympic Games took place in Singapore in 2010 with the first Winter Youth Olympics held in Innsbruck earlier this month.

The second editions are due to take place in Nanjing in China in 2014 with the winter version being held in Lillehammer in Norway in 2016.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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